The right to respect for private and family life : Article 8 of the European convention on human rights in the light of immigration

Abstract

Immigration and emigration processes have shaped the European continent throughout its history, with immigration issues having always been at the very heart of the national sovereignty of States, and a particularly sensitive policy area for governments and societies up to the present day. Public international law recognises territorial supremacy as allowing states to exercise discretion in specifying entry conditions applicable to aliens. Nevertheless, this right is restricted by international legal obligations with which a state is bound. Today, individuals migrate to and from an ever broader range of countries for numerous reasons, with various implications for both sending and receiving states. The catch-all term ‘international migrant’ encompasses inter alia highflying executives transferring between the offices of multinational companies, students travelling abroad to study, seasonal workers, husbands, wives and children joining overseas relatives, people fleeing persecution and seeking asylum and undocumented migrants looking for a better life, amongst others. The main scope of the dissertation is to analyse Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), specifically the right to respect for one’s private and family life in the light of immigration. Reference is made to the way in which this human right covers a growing number of issues and the limitation of the protection Article 8 affords. The dissertation examines the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on a number of issues namely, the progression in the application of Article 8 to long-term resident second-generation immigrants, deportation of individuals from a Contracting State wherein they have established private life or where people with whom they enjoy family life reside and the refusal to allow a parent or other family member to join them in the State. Furthermore, reference is made to the immigration laws and caselaw of the United Kingdom and Malta.